The Abbey Church of Santa Maria
di Cerrate is near the sea about half an hour's drive from Lecce.
Its external appearance reminded the Dom strongly of the beautiful
little
Mozarabic church of San Miguel de Escalada
in Northern Spain - with Romanesque arches instead of Horseshoe
ones.

an unusual Annunciation

and an interesting restoration
puzzle

Stomeo Biagio, another most
helpful site custodian - the name "Stomeo" goes back many
generations to his Greek /
Byzantine origins. Many of the churches in "the
heel" were linked to the Eastern Christian Church and the
Patriarchate of Constantinople rather than Rome until as
late as 1600 - well after the 1453 fall of Constantinople and the
Byzantine Emperors - though this has absolutely nothing to do with
Stomeo's family!